Constitutional Court OKs parliament's dissolution, early elections:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukraine's Constitutional Court has ruled that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's order to dissolve parliament and call early elections is legal.
Zelenskiy issued a decree on May 21 -- a day after his inauguration -- to dissolve parliament, and declared that a new chamber will be elected on July 21.
However, lawmakers defied Zelenskiy, declining to discuss his proposed changes in electoral legislation and appealing to the Constitutional Court to overturn his decree.
A comedian and actor with no previous political experience, Zelenskiy beat incumbent Petro Poroshenko by a large margin in an April 21 presidential runoff.
The country of 44 million faces deep-seated corruption, economic challenges, and a simmering war in eastern Ukraine. (w/Ukrinform and UNIAN)
WATCH: Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed charges announced against four men suspected of being involved in shooting down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, saying that there was no evidence. He said "dialogue" with Russia was required to find the truth, although the Dutch chief prosecutor said on June 19 that Moscow was not cooperating with international investigators.
EU Extends Sanctions On Russia Over Crimea For Another Year
By RFE/RL
BRUSSELS -- European Union leaders have agreed to extend the bloc’s economic sanctions penalizing Russia for its aggression in Ukraine.
"The Council [of EU member states] prolonged the restrictive measures introduced in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia until 23 June 2020," the bloc said in a statement on June 20.
The EU, the United States, and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia over Moscow's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and its support for the separatists holding parts of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in a conflict that has killed some 13,000 people since April 2014.